Houston, We Have a Problem!: 2 Common Mistakes to Crafting Landing Pages

A landing page, as defined by Wikipedia, is “a single web page that appears in response to clicking on a search engine optimized search result or an online advertisement.” Out of all the innovations which have been carried over from Web 1.0—and goodness knows the numbers to these are only a paltry few—the landing page has actually attained legitimacy in marketing circles everywhere because of its low-cost, low-maintenance features. In a sense, what was once considered an outlier from major schools of economics in the country is now a part of textbook knowledge. It’s a street-smart strategy which had academicians primarily agreeing with it now.

There’s just one problem though: making a great landing page is still reliant on numerous instances of trial-and-error. What worked five years ago may not work right this instant. In a way, the landing page has come to mirror the ebb-and-flow of the tech and seo Birmingham industry from whence it spawned. Regardless, just like common marketing-speak like “buy low, sell high”, many experts agree that those listed below are NOT the ideal ways to making a landing page work in this day and age!

So, do you think you’re doing it wrong? Well, let this post be a little checklist of sorts for your business! Here are a couple of mistakes that you have to avoid when attempting to make a good landing page:

1. You DID NOT bother to test your landing page.

If there’s any common mistake which first-time online marketers tend to do, it’s that they’re content on making a landing page—or even any kind of page, in fact—and leaving it there as it is. The reason why many of us tend to do that is because once we see any hint of increased conversion, we go absolutely ballistic and imagine cash flowing right into our bank accounts!

Of course, there’s a truism to that last statement; however, one thing which defines any virtual or real-world business going forward is its successful sustainability. In other words, you can’t always expect to get rewarded whilst still doing the same strategies and techniques. There is always a way to get better, and one of the best routes to doing is by way of split testing. What’s that quote about insanity again?

2. You DID NOT make your landing page user-friendly.

If there is anything that most online browsers hate the most, it’s adverts. And not just any adverts—it’s those ones which are so in-yer-face that one can’t help but be turned off by it.

There are several notable examples to it, with the most blatant ones being those which require the user to jump through hoops before allowing them to sign up with the service. An extremely long copy, for example, can be able to say many great things about your product, but it may end up whizzing past your target consumers’ consciousness since it actually communicates very little about what you can offer to them. And if you further bury that kind of abstract messaging under a pile of very confusing mechanics, then of course the user will have to tune out!

Instead, here is what you should do: write a clear copy bearing your message very clearly and into the light, even if it may be long. Design a clean interface with easy-to-read fonts and hyperlinks that are not too garish to the common eye. See why Facebook and Twitter are very popular? It’s because they have a minimalistic web design which lets the message speak for itself!

Now, we do hope we have helped you enough on how to make a landing page that actually lands you… well, profits! Think we may have left out something? Then please don’t hesitate to drop us a comment below!